South Africa hosts the BRICS FM meeting

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar is in Cape Town, South Africa, to attend a conference of BRICS foreign ministers.
The conference of foreign ministers intends to finalise the agenda for the upcoming BRICS summit, which will be held in South Africa in August.
The following are the key agenda items for this meeting: geopolitical consolidation and prospective expansion: The intention to increase BRICS membership and the debate of a shared currency are two significant subjects on the agenda that are gaining attention.
BRICS friends get together: South Africa is holding a Friends of BRICS meeting with foreign ministers from Africa and the Global South this year as the chair.

Argentina, Nicaragua, Mexico, Uruguay, Venezuela, Nigeria, Algeria, Egypt, Senegal, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Turkey, Syria, Iran, Kazakhstan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Indonesia, and Thailand are among the countries reportedly seeking BRICS membership.
Inclusion of major oil producers: Saudi Arabia, Iran, the United Arab Emirates, Nigeria, and Venezuela are among the prospective new members.

China is driving expansion: China is leading the effort to increase its BRICS membership and promotes the idea of creating a larger space for the Global South.
Concentrate on multilateralism: China emphasises multilateralism in its criticism of US hegemony, employing the term “multilateralism” rather than “multipolarity” in BRICS debates.
Putting the Western geopolitical view to the test: The Ukraine war has bolstered the China-Russia cooperation and converted BRICS into an aspirational bloc that challenges the western geopolitical narrative.

Participation of India in the BRICS and the G7: India’s participation in both the BRICS and the G7 shows its engagement with diverse groups and does not imply allegiance with an anti-Western coalition.
Non-Western group: India sees BRICS as a non-Western organisation and believes it should remain so, concentrating on its role as a platform for countries from the Global South to express solidarity.
India faces new challenges: Some commentators say that as BRICS grows and more members join, India’s prominence within the bloc may diminish.

Proposal for a joint currency: At the BRICS conference in Beijing last year, Russia proposed the notion of a common currency. Leaders formed a committee to investigate its viability.
Cautious reception and difficulties: The idea for a unified currency was met with scepticism, with questions about its viability and difficulties such as member countries’ various economic and political systems.
Protection against the dollar: The concept of a single currency gives an opportunity to minimise reliance on the US dollar, but not all members believe the time is right.
Currency trade difficulties: Negotiations between India and Russia for business in their respective currencies have been challenging, with Moscow preferring dollar payments due to India’s minimal imports.

China has expressed dissatisfaction with the “hegemony of the US dollar” and intends to promote the use of the Yuan as a trading currency in Central Asia.
There are no open voices against the dollar: Despite its criticisms, there is little evidence that China is ready to ditch the US dollar at this time

Source: https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/explained-global/explained-global-brics-that-could-be-bigger-8641524/